2014 season officially under way Down Under!!! Dodgers 3, Diamondbacks 1 WP: Kershaw (1-0); LP: Miley (0-1) (Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney, New South) Kershaw, Dodgers top D-backs in Australia - ESPN http://scores.espn.go.com/mlb/recap...s=los-angeles-dodgers-vs-arizona-diamondbacks Box score: http://scores.espn.go.com/mlb/boxscore?gameId=340322129
Puig is leading off? I guess they don't have anyone who really matches the "normal" profile, so I might have guessed, but I hadn't thought about it.
Puig's got wheels and next to Dee Gordon might be the fastest guy on the team. Aside from Crawford (15 last yr.) and Puig (10), the Dodgers got no speed game - 78 SB's last year. Crawford's out - "paternity leave".
To play itself out in the news until Puig goes on a tear and carries the Dodgers for 30-40 games: "Puig chipped off another chunk of Mattingly's patience this spring when he showed up weighing 251 pounds, 26 more than he weighed at the end of last season and 15 more than he weighed when he showed up the previous spring. " His talent is Top Ten in NL right now - bumps, glitches and spacey-moves aside. With Kemp looking fragile, Gonzo getting old and Hanley not exactly bullet-proof anymore, Dodger fans see the handwriting on the wall - get behind the Young Bull and ride him. Trout showed up last year and was bigger than previous year. No one said a word agst. him. Trout walks on water around here - for good reason. Yasiel taking awhile to find himself. Things could be worse.
Dodgers take both in Australia. Dodgers 7, Diamondbacks 5 WP: Ryu (1-0); LP: Cahill (0-1) (Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney, New South) Dodgers Hand D-backs Aussie Sweep - ESPN http://scores.espn.go.com/mlb/recap...s=los-angeles-dodgers-vs-arizona-diamondbacks Box score: http://scores.espn.go.com/mlb/boxscore?gameId=340322329 Mattingly is Running Out of Patience with Puig - ESPN http://espn.go.com/blog/los-angeles...7/mattingly-is-running-out-patience-with-puig Regular season resumes Sunday night, March 30, in San Diego with the Dodgers facing the Padres on ESPN. The traditional Opening Day begins Monday, March 31, for all other teams.
Work in progress: "Adrian Gonzalez walks on four pitches and then Scott Van Slyke crushes a pitch to deep left field that Trumbo climbs the fence in an attempt to haul in. Good effort … except the ball lands about six feet to his right and at the base of the fence. I mean, it isn't hard to tell Trumbo is really a first baseman the D-backs are force-feeding into left field." Haha...
WAR Front: " Interesting little graphic from FiveThirtyEight's Neil Paine on MLB's youth movement. Neil checked the percentage of overall MLB WAR contributed by players 25-and-younger each season since 1976. Neil writes: "In 2013, about 28 percent of all Wins Above Replacement were created by the under-25 set. That was the ninth-largest share for any season since 1976. Output from youngsters has been on the upswing since the mid-to-late 1990s, when the percentage of WAR from young players hit its nadir. That nadir happened to occur at the height of baseball’s so-called steroid era." - D.Schoenfield/ESPN
Trumbo's side of the fence-climb: http://www.azcentral.com/story/piec...rk-trumbo-debut-arizona-diamondbacks/6730851/ In fairness, I saw the kid play RF/1B for the Angels and he was OK. He's been moved around a bit. Might be AL-bound as a DH in the end. He'd hit 40-45 a yr. for some AL team if they could live with his low OBP.
Coffee time: http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=23064 "After speaking to various team employees who attended the conference, it’s hard to believe that one club recently spent $500,000 on a supercomputer. Many teams have surprisingly small (if not nonexistent) analytics budgets." "... 95% of all data collected over the 140-year history of major league baseball (MLB) has been generated in the last five years, according to Sean Lahman, a baseball expert and journalist."
Opening Day (The real one, not the alleged season opener that happened in Australia) is less than a week away. I'm super excited about it. Ruin Tomorrow Jr. can't get fired fast enough. I'm so happy that he's essentially ruining my Sillies. They'll be out of it by mid-May. (Hope springs eternal my ass.) Anyway, I'm begrudgingly picking the Yankees to win the AL East, the Tigers to win the AL Central, the Rangers (who won't collapse this time, I swear) to win the AL West, the Nationals to win the NL East (Somebody's gotta win the NL East), the Cardinals to win the NL Central, and the Dodgers to easily win the NL West. I've got the Red Sox and the Royals (yes, those Royals) in the AL Wild Card Game and the Pirates and D'Backs in the NL Wild Card Game. It's a boring pick, but I'm sticking with the Dodgers over the Red Sox in the World Series. I think the Astros will win the Wooden Spoon, while the Dodgers earning the best record. I think they'll win at least 105 games this year. They look like a great team playing in a fairly weak division. I think they'll also be the only team to win over 100 games. On a personal note, I think my Fightin' Phils get blown up and finish 69-93. They've got their brand new TV deal. They don't need to contend. They got what they wanted.
Dodgers $235M Payroll Tops MLB - ESPN http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/1...-top-spender-end-new-york-yankees-15-year-run
Some of the salaries are so incredibly absurd. Teams overpay for mediocrity in the worst way. Dan Uggla and his sub-.200 average make $13 million a season. Freaking Brandon League is getting $8.5 million a year. The Phillies have $73 million tied up in 3 players, one of whom actually has lived up to his promise over the last two seasons. Incredible!!
I gotta laugh at Dodger fan's pissed about the TWC/Dodger Channel price gouging. Last year they were jumping up and down about all the cash being thrown around and now? Local channel drops coverage and you have to pony up to a cable sub to get any games. No more free rides. Same old big-market hustle. Disclaimer: I honestly don't care for Vin Scully and, for all those whining about not being able to "...at least hear Vin for a couple..." eh, he's way overrated. Puts me to sleep.
Yea, but it's still the Padres: latest on "carriage fees" around MLB - http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/padres-fans-finally-get-team-on-tv-dodgers-astros-fans-not-so-much/
Couple of big guns go down at the start... Clayton Kershaw to Miss U.S. Opener - ESPN http://espn.go.com/los-angeles/mlb/...on-kershaw-los-angeles-dodgers-miss-us-opener No Structural Damage to Neck for Yu Darvish - ESPN http://espn.go.com/dallas/mlb/story/_/id/10677323/yu-darvish-texas-rangers-no-structural-damage
I'm curious how much blame the early start to the season and trip to Australia will receive for this injury. I know he's saying that it couldn't be a result of that, but one has to wonder. Good to see that he'll only miss one start.
People in Houston should consider themselves fortunate that they didn't have to watch the Astros last year. If I were a cable customer who didn't like baseball, and I found out that my bill was going up by $5 because of the Dodgers, I'd be livid. If you're a Dodgers fan in LA, you'll find a way to watch them, no matter what provider you have.
Miguel Cabrera Contract Extension: New Deal Close to $300M - ESPN http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/10688435/miguel-cabrera-thankful-stay-detroit-tigers A candidate for 'quote of the year' from Tiger GM Dave Dombrowski: "Do I expect him to win a Triple Crown when he's 40? No. But maybe. He's pretty good."
That cannot be right. Even with the huge jump in revenues that would be nuts. Surely not all 248 mil is guaranteed, except against career ending injury. They need Steven Drew and could have him for a tiny fragment of that. I'm guessing that the two vesting options occur at sensible places and if he reaches them mean the guarantee and the extra 30 mil kick in; but that the team has the option to keep him at the rate without the 30 mil if he doesn't hit the trigger, on a year by year basis. That way if he should outlast time he can get paid generously for it, but if the talent really dwindles the team is protected.
They still don't even know his real age. There were rumors when he first came up that they thought he was around 2-4 years older than he's actually listed as. Mark my words, we're only about 15 years away from seeing a player make $50 million a season. With the way salaries have been inflated in the last 20 years, it's bound to happen.
Unless he has the best chemist in the world it has to be fairly close; his value hasn't peaked yet by almost all measures. If he were 34 he should have peaked by now. Even if he's 32 one would expect the curve to be flattening. And if he's cheating, he's passing the tests...
Yea, seems like the clubs see what's coming and 20-24 mill/yr might look like a bargain not too far down the road. Question is tho, a lot of big city/big spender team revenues come from the cable deals and, aren't those dollars locked in themselves for 8-10 yrs. ? So, then if the cable $ is set for awhile and, the luxury tax in place, how can the agents get the numbers even higher on 8-10 yr. contracts?
The "Moment of Truth" is coming for Dodger Fans: http://espn.go.com/blog/los-angeles...3/dodgers-at-moment-of-truth-with-new-tv-deal Actually I thought we had a hint last nite at 9:09 PM, during the Freeway Series game, with a 5.1 tremblor. Rolled about 20 seconds down here in OC.